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John Thune begins to raise his national profile

South Dakota Sen. John Thune will make two major national addresses in the next 10 days. AP photo by Harry Hamburg

South Dakota Sen. John Thune will give two high-profile speeches to national Republican audiences over the next ten days, appearances that seem designed to raise his profile as he contemplates the possibility of a run for president in 2012.

On Tuesday, Thune will keynote the Republican National Committee's gathering of state party chairmen at the National Harbor in Maryland. Then, next weekend, Thune will travel to Charlotte, North Carolina to address the National Rifle Association's annual meeting -- a gathering that also includes the likes of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint.

Thune's twin appearances are rightly regarded as the first steps of a process that many within the party believe will end in the South Dakota Senator entering the 2012 presidential race.

Thune himself has been almost silent about any national ambitions but has rapidly developed into a candidate with significant buzz behind his candidacy. His lack of a Democratic opponent for his re-election race this fall makes it easier for him to begin the exploration phase of a presidential run.

Thune's national profile -- built from his 2004 victory over Tom Daschle -- coupled with his good looks, status as a neighbor to the early-voting state of Iowa and strong ties to the party's evangelical wing make him a potentially appealing candidate. He would also start a presidential race with a significant nest egg as he could transfer all of the $6.5 million in his Senate account to a national bid.

Thune's largest hurdle -- if he does indeed pursue a run for president -- is his 2008 vote for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), an issue that has become a touchstone for the tea party movement and other elements of the Republican base.

Still, that initial vote in favor of TARP will likely be a complication for Thune -- in the same way then Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton struggled to explain her vote in favor of the Iraq war resolution -- as he seeks to introduce himself to Republican activists and donors around the country.

"The scalar waves produced by the radio frequency directed energy weapon (RFDE) are capable of carrying multiple "subcarrier" radio frequencies that effect human physiology, at variable power levels (or "amplitude"). In effect, the RFDE represents a "God machine" that can manipulate, disrupt, or destroy the biological processes that govern the functioning of human beings."

Well Suzy under President Smirk one of my retirement accounts dropped from $15K to $9K

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high rolling Ped had to take the bus and pack bologney sammiches and find a third world country to retire. All becasue of a low brow community college education and a work ethic that had the pakis making twice her take. Poor ped gets fired about once a year for "personality conflicts"

if you actually ever really did any work at work, you know, like a capitalist, you may be able to afford new sandals one day.

Chris, Thune can prepare all he wants, it still doesn't make him presidential.
The man has all the charm and personality and brains as a stalk of dried grass.
this guy is hardly someone a person would think of when they think President.
he is an absurd joke

"Drawing particular attention were stocks that posted far bigger losses than the broad market. At least eight in the Standard & Poor's 1500-stock index fell to a price of one cent per share—essentially a 100% decline. Among them were Boston Beer, Exelon and Accenture.

With Accenture, for example, 20,365 shares changed hands at around $39.98 during the minute of 2:46 p.m., then another 68,516 shares were traded at $38 per share during the minute of 2:47. But then in the 2:49 p.m. minute, 66,277 shares traded at one cent. By 2:50 p.m., the stock was back up to $39.51. "

I do think that some part of the last few days decline in the stock market is the Greece debt default possibility and the other weak sisters. Is the U.S. contributing $ to shore them up? I thought it was the EU who was putting up the money but following IMF rules.

Posted by: 12BarBlues | May 6, 2010 9:42 PM

The US gave 100 Billion to the IMF, thanks to obama, in June 2009. The IMF will use part of that to bail out Greece.

I do think that some part of the last few days decline in the stock market is the Greece debt default possibility and the other weak sisters. Is the U.S. contributing $ to shore them up? I thought it was the EU who was putting up the money but following IMF rules.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission said in a joint statement late Thursday that they are working closely with other financial regulators and exchanges "to review the unusual trading activity that took place briefly this afternoon."

The regulators said they would make the findings of their review public.

In a brief statement, the Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!ndaq/quotes/nls/ndaq (NDAQ 19.50, -0.65, -3.23%) said later in the evening that it will cancel all trades made between 2:40 p.m. Eastern time and 3 p.m. Eastern time which were "greater than or less than 60% away from the consolidated last print in that security at (2:40 p.m.) or immediately prior."

I'm a little worried about this business in Greece. It looks like we're going to contribute to the international fund and help backstop the situation before it spills over into another country, like Spain or Portugal. Some will object to such a "bailout", but we certainly don't want these problems to metastasize just as our economy is beginning to show some positive signs.

More interesting details about today. There was some serious money made today. P&G, Boeing, Accenture all had huge, sudden downs, that reversed on a dime and closed near where they started. The most extreme was Accenture which started the day as a $40 stock, traded at 1 penny, then closed at $40. P&G & Boeing both traded down much more significantly than the market, then came roaring back.

Trades will be cancelled I'll bet. Large institutions do NOT take kindly to taking these kind of losses.

What can anyone say about John Thune? The buzz is entirely artificial and other than a few digs at his alarming waspishness, there's really nothing to say. How could we keep a discussion going about this guy?

As I know you are a trader, I'm interested in your prediction. Are you predicting that the market will trend down from here through November? In other words, you are recommending selling for the short term?

Posted by: 12BarBlues | May 6, 2010 9:01 PM

I'm not making any predictions. I'm a technical trader and religiously follow charts and the indicators. Last Tuesday, April 27, the S&P chart and all indicators I looked at were flashing the sell signal. They were right on.

Personally, I think the market will continue down some more. That's just my opinion. Hopefully, today's intraday low will be the low for the current down trend.

The only predictions I ignore are those that are partisan. In the years I've been investing, the political climate doesn't seem highly correlated to the market in any useful way. I make up my own mind about the trend of the market, but I'm always open to the predictions of others, if their reasoning is sound.

For example, just last night, I was talking to a friend who asked my what I thought of volatility (VIX index) going up the last few days. We thought it might mean a correction soon and both know that average corrections are about 10%.

So, if Suzy would give us her prediction and reasons for it, I am prepared to admire it.

From May 3rd Des Moines Register,
"Immigrants who were allegedly exposed to poisonous chemicals and dangerous machinery as minors will testify against their former bosses at Agriprocessors Inc. in a state child-labor trial that begins this week in Waterloo."

From the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier a day later:
"What was to be a child labor trial against six defendants has been whittled down to one defendant.
The state dismissed child labor charges against Agriprocessors corporate officer Abraham Aaron Rubashkin and plant human resources employee Laura Althouse this morning.
The dismissals came as prosecutors and the defense began to set the groundwork for what is scheduled to be a three-week trial."

They were supposed to be flying in some youngsters from Guatemala to testify.

A Polk County sheriff commented on the logistical problems of trying to enforce something like the new Arizona law. I don't have an exact quote; his point was that it may be fine to demagogue the issue for political purposes but enforcement is really not practical because of the number of illegals already in the country. The cost of housing an inmate in the county jail is about $100 a day (I know, Holiday Inn is cheaper) which would add up to millions of dollars in a few years. He said he could fill the jails with illegals in a week---but then want do you do after that? What if you need the jail space for something more pressing?

7000 to 11000?? The DOW was over 14,000 at its peak. 11000 is hardly great news for those whose retirement funds were in stocks. The market will probably go down even further - just in time for the November election.

Posted by: SuzyCcup | May 6, 2010 8:43 PM
---------------------------------
As I know you are a trader, I'm interested in your prediction. Are you predicting that the market will trend down from here through November? In other words, you are recommending selling for the short term?

Well Suzy under President Smirk one of my retirement accounts dropped from $15K to $9K; since President Obama took office it's come all the way back to $13K. I'd like it better if it surpassed its old value but the trend is in the right direction.

I don't expect everything overnight, but Republican economics is a pretty low bar.

Washington (CNN) – Sarah Palin broke ranks with the conservative movement on Thursday and endorsed former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in California's Republican Senate primary, prompting a flurry of criticism from many of her loyal supporters.

After Palin announced the endorsement on her Facebook page, a number of her followers questioned why she would side with Fiorina instead of the more conservative candidate in the race, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

DeVore has the backing of several leading voices in the conservative movement, including Sen. Jim DeMint, RedState.com editor Erick Erickson and the Tea Party Express.

Though a handful of readers agreed with Palin's decision, most were upset.

"This is very, very disappointing," Rick Sheridan, one of her supporters, posted on Palin's page. "Sarah, you've got to be more careful. This woman does not represent conservative values. And the choice is so clear. Serious damage to your base here."

You can sneer-quote "rise" if it makes you feel better, Cup, but 7000 to 11000 is the real thing.

Posted by: Noacoler | May 6, 2010 8:34 PM

7000 to 11000?? The DOW was over 14,000 at its peak. 11000 is hardly great news for those whose retirement funds were in stocks. The market will probably go down even further - just in time for the November election.

Hey Brigade, I knew a guy who interviewed at Perot's company. That guy is a psychotic control freak. My friend was leaving the Navy and had just had his latest regulation haircut and in the interview he was told that he'd have to have shorter hair to work there.

He was also admonished not to ask about salary since employees were expected to trust "Mr. Perot" to provide for them.

You can sneer-quote "rise" if it makes you feel better, Cup, but 7000 to 11000 is the real thing.

I know you hope that calamity befalls America so your filthy party of malicious idiots can get back into power, that being their ONLY way back, but don't expect the people whose bones will crunch to agree with you.

It has always seemed weird to me that I could criticize Barak Obama far more effectively than Republicans. Even if my arguments had to conform to the conservative creation myth, I could still do it...even with one hand tied ...

Republicans play Karl Rove too much. The groove is loose, the fidelity is poor and the public is not interested.

Noacoler wrote,
"If we had the courage to break up the entire financial arena, we might have a chance. That will never happen. Finance reform is nowhere near enough and it will be diluted to insipidity anyway.

You know what my response to all this is."

Yes. I gathered that from another thread. Your response is to gather your assets and invest them in a third world country and economy. Much safer than the U.S.A. Good luck with that.

Late at night while your sleepin'
Charlie Cong comes a'creepin'
All around.

Noacoler wrote,
"I really for the life of me can't understand how this is in any way newsworthy. A skeletal mediocrity nobody cares about is going to give a speech to a radical organization that has recently distinguished itself by siding with terrorists."

Now. Now. That's no way to talk about President Obama. What happened to respect for the office?

Behold the hat. Please explain how calling these nuts "teabaggers" is some sort of sexual slur.

Posted by: Noacoler | May 6, 2010 6:12 PM
_____________

noa, HuffPo put to rest that nonsense today by showing a picture of a older bagger-ette wearing a big hat from which about fifty Tetley tea bags were hanging. Bagger madness. The baggers are really losing steam. These days, it's hard to get more than 17 of them to show up, even with the free bus rides and whatever else their lobbyist-sponsors provide them (mayo sandwiches? Dr. Pepper?).

@ceflynline: I'm all for restoring the steeply progressive income tax, absolutely, but the trend since Eisenhower has been the other way. I think we should have a tax code that actively and unapologetically discourages the concentration of wealth, allowing the hard-working an innovative to get rich but not so rich that they can dictate to governments. Imagine if Bill Gates was worth a few billion but had never been worth a hundred billion, and wouldn't ever have had the uh clout to get abhorrences like the raising of the H1-B cap raised.

We have developed a system that essentially encourages a very destructive kind of embezzlement. I agree with your idea of a transaction tax.

He did make a correction in my copy of "Mote in God's Eye" that changed the storyline considerably .. the Motie embassy ship showed up with newborns, the original read "the children should have been spared," Niven changed the last word to "spaced."

There is an IMPORTANT ISSUE which has been brought up by a SMITHTOWN newspaper over a satire picture of an older Obama later in life becoming a character in Sanford and Son. Apparently few people find the image actually racism - however there is discomfort out there.

The Smithtown newspaper is on Long Island in New York.

The issue is this: it is about time to distinquish between DISRESPECT AND RACISM. Perhaps the picture in the Smithtown paper was disrespectful, but clearly it was not racist - so it is considered fair game.

This is an important distinction. There was a great deal of disrespect shown Bush by the democrats over his years in office - when racism was never an issue.

Surely the same level of disrespect is fair game.

There is a level of poison in our political discourse right now - and it comes from the sense that some people are crying false charges of racism - for speech and conduct which if against a white President would NEVER be questioned.

I will go one step further: The political discourse will CONTINUE TO BE RACIST UNTIL THE SPEECH REACHES THE SAME LEVELS OF DISRESPECT AS WAS COMMON UNDER BUSH.

In other words - in order for the political discourse to be FREE OF RACISM, the level of disrespect for Obama MUST equal the level of disrespect shown for other Presidents, Bush included.

If there is restraint, or false charges present, then there is a racial component - and it is racist.

The FIRST STEP again is to start to distinquish between DISRESPECT AND RACISM - and the political society and media has to regard the DISRESPECT AS FAIR GAME, NORMAL AND EXPECTED.

Surely, the democrats took the DISRESPECT FOR BUSH TO NEW LEVELS - for them to start crying foul right now when a democrat is the subject is simply NOT RIGHT - IT IS RACIAL AND RACIST.

I will make the point again: in order for our political system to be FREE OF RACISM, we NEED TO HAVE THE SAME LEVELS OF DISRESPECT PRESENT NOW AS WE HAD UNDER BUSH.

"@shrink2: I would answer yes. America has become financialized, a fatal condition no country has ever recovered from. If we had the courage to break up the entire financial arena, we might have a chance. That will never happen. Finance reform is nowhere near enough and it will be diluted to insipidity anyway. You know what my response to all this is."

No need. Taxes will do what needs to be done.

That part of gross incomes from whatever means derived in excess of 100 times the full time minimum wage is taxable, starting at 50% and proceding in a progressive manner until the increment where 95% of the income is paid in income taxes to whom ever. Sales, property, tangibles, luxury taxes etc don't count. make the slope from 100 times to 1000 ti9mes in increments of 100 times.

It won't produce spectacular amounts of revenue but it takes the incentive out of mutilating a corporation to get yur $60 million bonus.

Tax ALL financial transaction FEES of whatever kind at 10%, paid by the receiver. every thing from the 10 cent fee on a thrifty check to the umpteen percent commission your friendly penny stock pusher takes on both sides of his highly speculative, (read, worthless) stock transaction. Hedge fund moves, IRA rollovers, stock swaps, equity swaps, possibility of blue eyed baby twins synthetic CDO's, the charges made by the broker get taxed 10%. Broker pays but he can take it back from his mark if the mark lets him.

Tax all securities transactions except ordinary personel banking 1% on the value of the transaction, parties to negotiate who pays what.

Wait a year or two and see what happens. Reduction of the deficit by a significant amount is an acceptable result.

If you take out the incentive of impossibly large bonuses, Corporate management goes back to trying to make their company strong, long lived, and properly profitable.

And the financialization fanatics can pay for the damage they do in their confiscatory taxes.

Just as I suspected, the key voting group's opinion (Independents) do not like the Az
profiling bill by 18% points. D's and Rs are about event at R for 89% and D oppose 79%. Surprisingly AA
and Hispanics seem to oppose in almost equal numbers.

Sory drindl but that's unfair to the people of Lousiana and to the wildlife that are going to be so grotesquely burdened by this catastrophe. Sea turtles are extremely endangered species, some of them nest on LA beaches, and those pictures of dead ones washed up on the beach should have BP and Halliburton under military siege, their headquarters leveled and their executives swinging from lampposts.

Take it out on Jindal himself. Too bad we don't do stocks and pillories anymore.

Nick Clegg might be the medicine the UK needs. Could the check on crony capitalism and (not-working)unions, co-equal and interdependent charlatans wearing the masks of capitalism and socialism...start across the pond?

We got our New Right. I feel sorry for the dead and the dying. We need a new Left, that is for sure.

Marcus Aurelius described socialism awhile back as the a good will, to produce and to do right by others, like being a Mensch, or as he wrote it, a grape vine produces and gives and does not reckon the debt for having done so. Yeah, it is pretty simple. When you are dead, no one cares about the stuff you had*, if they care about losing you at all** it is because of your socialism, what you did when you were giving yourself away.

Our two party system is moribund, Citizens United sealed the deal.

Today a crazy guy*** I have known for two decades who works in a simple job in my area asked me (as I paid my bill where he works) if I thought America was hopeless, right out of the blue. I told him no of course not, but it was weird, this guy is, well ah, I don't want to say anything too mean...but somehow even he understands what the question has become.

We don't seem to be hearing much about Bobby Jindal for president lately... and now he's kind of in a bind. Suddenly, after blasting federal spending all this time, criticizing Democrats constantly, now he's asking Congress for a bailout. Understandably, they are not feeling terribly generous right now.

"In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has been a vocal critic of federal spending under President Obama, but as the state closest to the undersea leak, he already has requested various forms of federal disaster assistance. He's also anticipating the possibility that British Petroleum either won't, or won't have to under the law, foot the the full cost of all the damages associated with the spill.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) took a swipe at Jindal when I asked during a brief interview this week if Congress was considering any funding to add to what BP will do. "Well you know, here we go. You know, the governor of Louisiana says the federal government should stay out of the state's business," Menendez told me Tuesday night. "

What's the point of giving R governors money when they are just going to start demagoguing again as soon as the crisis passes. Let Jindal find a way to pay for it himself.

"Republican registered voters' enthusiasm about voting in midterm elections this fall has dropped precipitously during the past month, cutting their enthusiasm advantage over Democrats almost in half, according to new Gallup polling data.

As Gallup's Jeffrey Jones notes, registered voter party preferences remain in a statistical dead heat, so voter enthusiasm is a key measurement of likely election results -- and Republicans historically have higher turnout. But the GOP's current 10-point enthusiasm advantage is at its lowest ebb since Gallup began polling "2010 election attitudes" in March.

A month ago, shortly after the passage of health care reform and not long before taxes were due, some 54 percent of registered Republican voters told Gallup they were "very enthusiastic" about voting. Now that number is back down to 43 percent, about the same as it was before health reform passed."

Behold the hat. Please explain how calling these nuts "teabaggers" is some sort of sexual slur.

With McCain in charge we would be in a full-blown Depression as he cut taxes and spending in some reflexive Laffer-curve impulse to help the economy. And when he croaked and Palin succeeded him, well, it'd be a matter of days before she launched nukes.

Look at that face. She's NUTS.

And look at McCain. He doesn't know what year it is, he's so damned mad about losing to the black guy.

Today Chris Cillizza might have departed the Pawlenty train, now losing the steam wisp it had for the Thune train, which has at least not lost steam it never had.

"skeletal" indeed noa, this guy needs a sandwich. Or a steaming bowl of Pho.
He is going to compete with Skeletor Gorton if he does not have a little something to eat.

ceflyline, they have to jump on bad news whenever and wherever they can find it.

For their voters, facts don't matter. They trade in outrage. Outrage right now! is best, angry memories are ok if they are living, but if two years from now people figure out how much better off they are than they would have been had they elected McCain/Palin, Republican husks like Thune will blow away.

So, Republicans can't wait for 2012? It is good advice in general, enjoy the moment.

I really for the life of me can't understand how this is in any way newsworthy. A skeletal mediocrity nobody cares about is going to give a speech to a radical organization that has recently distinguished itself by siding with terrorists.

A lot of us see Cillizza as hopelessly partisan toward Republicans, bending over .. forwards .. to create an impression that they're exciting, that they're resurgent, that they have ideas and proposals.

For people like BB who try to argue the other way, Cillizza doesn't provide a lot of useful material.

We have the worst environmental disaster possibly in our history, we have a near terrorist incident only days ago, we have a thousand point DJIA plunge and climb, and what does Cillizza write about? Some dyed snoozelord from South Dakota about the speak to the gun nuts.

the fix writes
"South Dakota Sen. John Thune will give two high-profile speeches to national Republican audiences over the next ten days"

What's he going to tell them? "While we do have policy wonks like Sen Corker who really understand the bills, we're not going to vote based on their recommendations because playing politics is much more important."

"Announcing the winner of the how long will it take for the Republicans to blame the overdue stock market correction on Barak Obama... B) today Posted by: shrink2 | May 6, 2010 11:58 AM"

Or, given their lick and their atrocious timing, just after it becomes apparent that the market hiccup had virtually no effect on the slow and steady recovery, just transferred speculative money from the outrageously irrational bulls to the periodically pessimistic bears.

When you jump on the first hoped for bad news you can find, at least wait to see if it actually IS bad news.

I am so sick of the Obama administration with its radical agenda and careless concern about the mounting debt. Obama kept blaming all on Bush but he spent two trillion. Obama claims he had a deficit but it did not stop him from the idiotic throwing of more money on top of existing debt. How stupid is that? His selfish myopic agenda is destroying this nation and I cannot wait until 2012.

Posted by: greatgran1

--------
You forgot one thing it was the Republican's agendas that put us where we are and it does start around the 1980s. The way I look at it, it is the Republican's myopic agendas destroyed this country and ran up the deficits something you conveniently left out....

I like him. He is young, sharp and on message. I would be thrilled if he were running for President. I am so sick of the Obama administration with its radical agenda and careless concern about the mounting debt. Obama kept blaming all on Bush but he spent two trillion. Obama claims he had a deficit but it did not stop him from the idiotic throwing of more money on top of existing debt. How stupid is that? His selfish myopic agenda is destroying this nation and I cannot wait until 2012.

Thune is more likely to be on a VP short list for 2012 than at the top of the ticket. If he makes a run in 2012 it will likely be to get his name known and test the waters for 2016. He can afford to make a practice run, as he won't have to put his job in the Senate on the line in 2012.

He's relatively young (49) and has plenty of time. He'll be a viable Republican presidential or vice presidential candidate for at least the next four presidential elections barring some scandal. I expect to see him on the national ticket at some point, though of course nothing is ever a sure thing in politics.